2025 Triumphal Entry

Luke 19:28-40

You see those movies, documentaries, history channel shows… with the armies and generals of old: the Alexander the Great Kings/Rulers… the Gladiator movie when Russel Crow or the Emperor is being escorted back inside the Kingdom and the palace...

The battle raged, the battle was won, the word got out that the victory was theirs and the messengers were sent out to the kingdom and palace… and everyone remained ready for when the soldiers, generals, and or rulers would be coming back into the land.

They would sound the alarm… blow the trumpet… and all would go out to meet the King and the soldiers, and they would have this procession and celebration… all the way back into the Kingdom and palace...

Flowers would be released… praises would be sung… the King was triumphant! He has won!

So, during ancient times, victorious kings and generals would enter into the town or city in this way, on their white horses or chariots.

Now Church: There is coming a day… when we will see this. There is coming a day when we will experience this. There is coming a day, when the trumpet will sound and we will go out and up to meet the King coming back in. And there will be a celebration.

We will either be caught up to meet the King coming back, or we will come with Him… but their will be this final day, this celebration to the victory, and to celebrate the Victorious Warrior who is riding in on a white horse, which symbolizes, power, victory, and purity...

Listen Carefully: There will be an end to the war, an end to fighting, an end of evil… There is coming a day, as we are all waiting, watching, and expecting… The return of Christ the King. And there will be Him riding in with all power and dominion over all enemies... and on His robe, as well as His thigh will read, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

And we will be with Him, in His Kingdom forever. And what a day of rejoicing that will be.

When we welcome the Return of the King.

This is coming.

What are we seeing here in the text? What we are seeing is a coronation of a king… but The King is riding in to town on the back of a donkey.

But first a commercial break:

Now… lets be clear about something in verse 30-31...

Do not try stealing or borrowing possessions like this without Jesus telling you in person to do this. “The Lord has need of it...” These people knew who the Lord was and they were moved to lend or to give because the Lord asked for it… Be sure, when you think that the Lord is telling you to borrow a Kawasaki Mule from a neighbor… That he knows who the Lord is...

You might get shot around here...

But why a donkey, or a donkey’s colt... and not a horse or a chariot?

You see, we observe two comings of Christ in the Bible. There are two descriptions of the Messiah.

There is the Suffering Servant and There is the Victories Ruler and Sovereign King.

This is the Same person at different times.

Now Jewish teachers (rabbis) have seen these descriptions and at some point deduced, “well, there must be two Messiah’s, two different people.” This was written in their Jewish commentary, called the Talmud. They do not have nice things to say about Jesus in the Talmud. They would never say that Jesus was a Messiah or one of these Messiah’s.

But in the Bible, we see that this is the same person at different times in history.

The first coming of the Messiah describes one Who would suffer and die, like a lamb led to the slaughter. That He would come and teach, set the captives free from sin, that He would be crucified.

And believe it or not, 500 years before Jesus shows up here… the prophet Zechariah predicted that the Messiah would come into the city… gentle… humble… mounted on a donkey, even a colt, the foal of a beast of burden… 500 years before...Study Zechariah 9:9.

Only God can predict the future… Only God can set this up like this...

For those who are new to the Bible, just keep reading. God knows what He is doing, and He knows how to get it done through floods, through Egypt, deserts, Red Sea, wars and rumors of wars… through empires and nations rising and falling… You cannot stop our God... and if you can get to the end of the Bible… you will see that God wins and we win with God.

This is God’s divine plan.

And at times… it looks small, it looks like it is over; it looks like nothing is going on… But God is always working . He is always moving. And He knows how to get the job done.

Jesus is riding in on a donkey… and the Father is getting the job done.

Jesus is not here in the text reigning with splendor as The King with the iron fist. Jesus does not have or show earthly wealth or militant power here...

Now… Does God need flashy? Does God need what we think He needs to get the job done?

To get the job done… Jesus first comes in humility, meekness, as a Servant. This is how Jesus comes to us this first time. This was His time of humiliation and not glorification. Jesus is riding on a symbol of lowliness, and He Himself will be the Lamb of burden and He will bear the sins of the world.

He did not first come to judge or condemn… He came to give His and to save His people. This is the time of grace, mercy, longsuffering… And we are thankful that He came this first time like this… Humble… At peace… Lowly… As a Suffering Servant (please study Isaiah 52-53)

This world would say to a figure like this: “Nice and humble guys finish last.” But we say… “Yeah, well wicked people go to hell!”

“Well, humble people don’t get much done...” And Jesus accomplished much… didn’t He?!

The last will be first and the first will be last.

The humble, the meek, will inherit the earth. Blessed are these, the humble and pure of heart, they shall see God and the Kingdom of God. The servant of the King, may suffer first, but then they will be exalted… But the prideful and wicked servants shall have their heaven on earth and their hell for eternity.

Humility is first. Servant-hood is first. Lowliness is first… Then there is the exaltation...

This is scene 1. This is the first round, the first coming.

First comes the Suffering. Then comes the exaltation.

Verse 36 - The Jewish people, many people, knew the prophecy from Zechariah, and they have heard of this Jesus, heard of the miracles and Lazarus coming back from the dead… and they had this joy expectation and wonder… “Could this be Him???” And so many were wanting this to be true.

They began to spread their clothes out on the road… as you would do for royalty back in the day. This showed honor, respect, submission to His authority... This could have even communicated, “We place ourselves at your feet, even to walk over if necessary.”

This is what servant do for their King. This is what we do for our King, don’t we?

Maybe it is difficult for us to think about having a King, because of where we live and the time we live here… Maybe it is difficult for us to think about a King being over us...

But that is What Jesus is... He is The King. He is our King. We are His servants.

This is what we are willing to do as His servants: We Say, “Lord, I am at your feet. I desire to show you honor and respect with my life, with my possessions, I even lay down my body, my life for you to step your next step...

Servants say, “Lord, in order for you to do what you need to do… If you need my back… here is my back… Here is my hand… Here is my feet… Here is my life...”

We look to the King and we say, “I know who you are, and in light of who you are, I know who and what I am… Here is my life. Take it, it is yours.” You are the King. I am the Servant.

Your kingdom come and your will be done…

This is the Way to approach our King… We lay out our lives before Him.

Now: In Matthew and in John… we see branches being cut, palm branches being cut, waved and laid down on the road. These were used during celebrations, and they symbolized victory, triumph, peace and eternal life.

And by the way… Baptists… And it is alright to have a good time in the presence of the King! It is ok to celebrate Him. It is ok to celebrate what He has done and accomplished. It is good to celebrate together, that we are His and that we are in His Kingdom… Celebrate before the King, be joyful. The King likes this… The King enjoys this… Not silence...

Then as he was approaching the descent of the Mount of Olives, a big crowd of disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice… praising God for all the miracles which they had seen… and what did they sing?

They sang this old tune, this old Psalm, Psalm 118:26 - “Blessed in the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Matthew 21 adds this extra verse: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

The King. The Son of David. Hosanna, “save us; save now.”

And what a cry… what a prayer… what a request to make to the King of Kings and Lords and Lords: “Lord save me… Lord save us… Lord save my family… Save us, please!”

Save you from what?

We would say as Christians: “Save me from my sins. Save me from hell. Save me from myself. Save me from addictions… Save me from____________.”

But what these people were looking for and what they were crying out for was this: Jesus, save us from Rome. Save us from the emperor. Save us from this slavery and opposition to this enemy… Be the Victorious Warrior now over these enemies… We want our independence and freedom. “Make Israel Great Again!”

Death, hell, Satan, the grave, sin… none of this was in view.

What was in view? Their temporary pain. Their temporary enemy. The government and their physical poverty...

They were not focused on spiritual or eternal things; they were focused on the temporal things.

How many times have we heard cries like this? How many times do people cry out to God when they are in pain, and they are concerned with getting relief from the pain… But it is not sin pain… It is not godly sorrow. It is not repentance...

It is Lord… give me relief from this other thing.

And we don’t talk to the King again… until we are in pain again...

Or… since the King/God didn’t deliver us from the pain… We turned our backs on Him and said, “Well if that’s the best you can do… I do not need you...”

That is what these people in the story is going to do. Some of these same folks that are crying out and praising today… are going to be the same ones screaming, “Away with Him, and Crucify Him!”

Now within our context, and within our families… we would not dare say these words out loud… but that is how we treat the King… He is dead to me. He cannot deliver the goods. It’s up to me. Its up to the government. Its up to the Republicans. Its up to...______________.

“I mean God… I cried out for you to take away the pain… I thought you could do all things… Why didn’t you save me from that pain, keep that from happening to my family member… I cried out for you to save my children from this and that… to save my relationship...”

“God… if that is the best you can do… I am not going to talk to you anymore. I will not follow you anymore. I will not lay down my life for you… If that is the best you can do… I will go to church because that is what I am suppose to do, but… my heart is far from you.”

Some people in churches are there today. And this is how they are treating the King of Glory.

But dear friend… Is this your argument? Do you believe that Jesus has failed you? Is this the best argument you have for not following Jesus, and laying down your life for Him? Is this the reason you will not trust in Him?

...Because… He is not what you want Him to be?

God gave His best. God did give His best. God gave Himself. The Son of God is the best. The Son of God gave His best. He has come to lay down His life, not to condemn the world but to save the world from their sins and to reconcile the world to God. Jesus has come to set the captives free, to do a spiritual work, to bind Satan, to take all authority in heaven and on earth, through the death and resurrection of His life… so that He can give eternal life to whosoever believes in Him.

He has come to save you here and now, and forever from sin and eternal death...

He is Who He is, and He is not want you want Him to be… But He is God, and He gave us His best...

And the Father was on the Throne when the Son did it… And this pleased God, that His Son would do this, to ransom and redeem His people from their sins, so that you and I could be and would be forgiven.

Jesus is coming again one day...to reign and to rule with that iron fist, to remove Satan, all evil, pain and suffering, all cancer, all disease… Every tear from every eye… He is coming again...

And all of His people will be caught up… to come back into His Kingdom and to experience the splendor and the glory of it all.

Revelation 7:9 - There are those described as being clothed in white robes and they have palm branches in their hands, a number of people that cannot be counted, consisting of all the nations, tribes, people groups.… And they will be singing then: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the Throne, and to the Lamb!”

This is going to be Scene 2… This is going to happen in scene 2… In round 2...

And if you want to experience that celebration then… You must submit your life now. You must lay down your life now. You must believe on Him now… Before then...

Because if you will wait… you will on the outside forever, in the darkness forever.

1. First, there is the Suffering. Then there is the Exaltation.

Lastly: He is the King. The King has come. The King is coming again.

So therefore… Verse 39-40 - DO not be silent! Do not stop crying out. Do not stop praising the King! Keep your eyes on Him… Do not look away! This is Who you think He is . He is the Christ. He is the King. He is the Victorious Warrior.

He has come and He is coming again! Do not be silent!

Jesus says, “I tell you the truth… If these become silent, the stones will cry out!”

You cannot stop God’s message from getting out. God is going to get it out, even if it takes a miracle. God’s purposes and will will stand! It is going to get done!

Jesus is building the Church and the Gates of Hell will not prevail over it!

But He calls you to speak up, pray up, and to never shut up. Keep worshipping and declaring the message of the King!

God has created everything to glorify God. God has called all of creation to point to the Creator and to glorify God … Stars, moon and sun… birds, and tress, and everything else...

But what say you?

Will you lift your palms? Will you sing His praise?

Will you keep on declaring Who this King is?!

Or… Will you remain silent, and let disappointments hinder your prayer, praise, and worship?

Do not be silent!

First comes the Suffering… Then comes the Victory… Then Comes the Exaltation.

The King has come. The King is coming again. He has come to bring peace this time. He has come to seek and to save the lost. He has come to testify to the truth. He has come to bind Satan...

He has come to die for sinners… Receive His grace today, believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved...

And don’t stop praising Him!

The King has come! The King is coming again!

Raise Your Palms and Worship!

Close.